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Springfield city officials decry housing for refugees, ask for accountability

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Hiboxasan Iyai, 21, arrived in Springfield two months ago with her son, Mahammud, 3, and her daughter, Sanab, 1, as part of a resettlement effort for Somali refugees by the U.S. State Department. She joins a growing number of Somali refugees who have resettled in this city and other U.S. cities after civil war broke out in her native country in 1991.
(Photo by Stephanie Barry)

SPRINGFIELD — From a refugee camp in a war-torn area of Africa, to a stopover in Turkey to an apartment building near downtown Springfield, 21-year-old Hiboxasan Iyai found the challenges of her birthright were not yet over.

Among hundreds of Somali Bantu refugees resettled here since 2003, Iyai – a mother of a 3- and 1-year-old, has been struggling to feed and clothe her children since she arrived two months ago – she said during an interview hobbled by communication barriers.

With her limited English, Iyai attempted to sum up her plight through what amounted to an elaborate game of charades and about a dozen words of English.

“America good,” she said with a broad smile, standing in the hallway of her apartment at 400 Franklin St, a triple-decker home that houses three families of Somali refugees run by a landlord based out of Meriden, Conn.

The property was one of several cited by the city for deplorable, “uninhabitable” living conditions earlier this year – primarily because mice and rats had infested the building so pervasively they were nibbling on a disabled child’s feeding tube on the third floor, according to city records linked to the house.

However, the owner, a member of MEG Realty LLC out of Connecticut (who would only give his first name, Eric) said he bought the vacant apartment building two years ago, gutted it, and rebuilt it with new windows, doors and appliances.

he house at 72 Carver St. which the City of Springfield has cited for housing code violations. The Republican / Mark M. Murray

“It’s not my fault. It’s the tenants’ fault,” he said during a telephone interview on Thursday. “If they don’t keep the place clean and leave food out, it’s going to bring mice and rats. As soon as the city called and started yelling at me about it, I fixed the problem and made visits there daily for weeks.”

David Cotter, director of code enforcement for the city, has said more than a half-dozen complaints have recently come from the refugee rental market, with properties all across the city affected. He says some landlords hide behind a labyrinth of limited liability corporations. The emerging housing problem was among factors that prompted Mayor Domenic J. Sarno to publicly state that the city is “closed for business” for any more refugees.

Refugees are defined by the U.S. State Department as a person residing outside the country who is of special humanitarian concern to the country and who has been persecuted in his or her own country for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group.

Springfield and other Northeast communities began receiving hundreds of Somali Bantu refugees in 2003. Michael Sullivan, mayor of Holyoke at the time, rebuffed the Bantu resettlement for many of the reasons Sarno is citing today: overtaxed social service, schooling and housing systems.

“I know (resettlement agencies) mean well. I do care and do have a heart. I’m a first-generation kid of Italian immigrants … but where’s the follow-up?” Sarno said.

The two primary resettlement agencies for refugees in Western Massachusetts are Jewish Family Service in Springfield and Lutheran Social Services of New England.

Since 2011, U.S. State Department numbers show the agencies have helped resettle nearly 1,500 refugees in Greater Springfield – primarily from African nations and in greatest numbers in Springfield and West Springfield.

The Bantu were persecuted when civil war broke out in the early 1990s. A rash of violence targeting their ethnic group sent them fleeing to refugee camps in Kenya and elsewhere, which were often unsafe. Refugees have reported incidents of looting and rape at night. Many of those who grew up in the camps, like Iyai, never had proper homes with running water or electricity.

According to the state Office of Refugees and Immigrants, refugees receive cash assistance, “basic needs support reception” and placement services, funded through the U.S. State Department. For the first 30 days after arrival, host agencies provide assistance with housing, furnishings, food, clothing and transportation to job interviews. During the first 90 days, host agencies also provide help with applying for Social Security cards, registering children for school and tutelage on using public transportation and other public services. They also receive temporary medical coverage.

Sarno and Cotter suggested certain refugees, including many Somalis, appear to need far more support than the resettlement agencies provide and for far longer than 90 days.

Robert Marmor, president and CEO of Jewish Family Service, said in a public statement that he met with city officials in July to discuss concerns around housing and communication surrounding the placement of refugees.

“That week I personally went on 8 home visits, spoke to refugees and found that two apartments were in poor condition due to landlord negligence. The JFS staff have been advocating for these families to improve conditions,” Marmor said in the statement, which did not detail which properties he visited.

Jozefina Lantz, director for services for New Americans for Lutheran Social Services, said the local agencies prepare “very responsibly” in resettling refugees and providing support services.

There is a federal timeline for providing support, “but that is too short and we certainly serve refugees past that timeline.”

“If the refugee family runs into issues year down the road they certainly know where to come and we will always help and always have,” Lantz said. “But let’s say three years down the road — that is not something we would follow. Refugees are resettled to be free. To move freely to live freely. They are not our charge per se. We don’t do that level of control and monitoring.”

“It’s up to them to come in,” Lantz said. “Sometimes they do fall prey to landlords as do any other family. Many poor families do.”

Cotter provided documentation for several properties including Franklin Street and 72 Carver St., which still had a torn blue tarp covering the roof when a reporter recently visited the property. A small group of women dressed in traditional African garb were gathered on the front porch, but none spoke English.

A condemnation order was issued by the city in May, attached to a report with a litany of violations including the tarp, broken locks and windows, a lack of hot water and heat in certain units and a heavy infestation of bed bugs.

The owner, Almaliky Ali, whose address is listed as 74 Carver St., was not at home and could not be reached for comment. Lisa C. DeSousa, an attorney for the city, said Ali was ordered to appear in housing court on June 24. He did not appear; a civil warrant issued for his arrest, DeSousa said. City attorneys plan to file a motion to appoint a receiver for the property.

In the case of 400 Franklin St., Cotter said the property was filled with dead mice and rat droppings, and had holes chewed in the walls. Deeds records show the limited liability corporation purchased the property for $35,000 in 2008.

“We have six people in code enforcement and there have been 192 condemnations since the first of January. That’s a ridiculous amount. Now we have to turn those over to our Law Department, which is short-staffed, and what happens when the cold weather comes and they don’t have a winter coat or they can’t communicate with the oil company when that runs out? Where’s the follow-up?” Cotter said.

He also added that he believes property owners like “Eric,” who lives out-of-state, should have on-site managers rather than waiting until code violations reach crisis proportions.

Cotter conceded, however, that the owner worked to address the problems after he was informed. Iyai seemed to suggest that she was happy in her apartment, but struggled to show a reporter her budgeting challenges. She pulled a slips of paper from her wallet showing a $630 monthly cash allowance against a $540 rent payment and a $150 utility bill.

“Food, good,” she said, referring to her monthly food allowance.

She added that she had been resettled by Lutheran Social Services.

“Not good,” she said, unable to provide more detail in English.

In terms of the housing struggles for refugees, Peter Gagliardi, executive director of HAP Housing in Springfield, said the rental market in Springfield has been tightening like a noose. The city has been hard hit by the economy, foreclosures, the 2011 tornadoes and the 2012 natural gas explosion that damaged many downtown units.

He said the 2010 U.S. Census showed Springfield had a 5 percent vacancy rate which he estimates has been reduced to about 3 percent because of all those factors, plus the state’s effort to move homeless families out of shelters and hotels. All of it has sent more people into the rental market and rents creeping upward.

“At 3 percent we have a seller’s market and everyone competes for the rest,” Gagliardi said. “I think if everybody who really needed affordable rental housing got it, we probably don’t have enough.”